Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to computer assisted product display systems and interactive methods involving software to visualize products in a retail environment.
Description of Related Art
Notwithstanding the rise of online shopping, physical product displays are still an integral part of the retail shopping experience for consumers. In any retail store environment, consumers still desire to touch, feel, hold and test products before they decide on a purchase. As demonstrated by the success of Apple™ stores, shoppers still appreciate the experience of visiting physical stores and viewing and testing products in-person with the option of speaking to a knowledgeable sales-person to help them guide their product selection. For this reason, retail stores like Apple™, BestBuy™, and others have invested heavily into product displays that allow consumers to view and demonstrate products that are tethered to displays with locks and other security apparatuses.
However, stores invest considerable resources to secure products to product displays, which typically requires purchasing security devices that prevent consumers from removing, mishandling or misplacing display products. These displays and security devices can be awkward, bulky, and can easily be mishandled by consumers and retail store personnel, leading to unnecessary expense and work associated with creating a product display. Retail stores also have significant limitations with existing product displays which are expensive to build, time consuming to customize, adjust, remove or reconstruct when new product models become available. Traditional product displays can also take up significant store retail space if the products are particularly large such as appliances, furniture or household or outdoor equipment.
Moreover, sensitive or expensive equipment such as electronics, watches or jewelry can often be damaged or stolen if not properly secured or if the security or tethering apparatus is not installed properly, malfunctions or is tampered with. Such tethering and security devices, even if allowing a consumer to hold the object, although with limited mobility, still do not provide a consumer or shopper with a full experience of what the product looks or feels like in all physical and spatial dimensions. Moreover, such displays limit how a consumer can interact with the product, touch the product, test or wear the product, if it is wearable object.
Also, current computer assisted models of retail shopping do not present a seamless and easy-to-use system for the consumer. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,681,790, “Computer Supported Retail Shopping Systems and Methods” discloses a hand-held scanner for a customer to scan product information while shopping. However, this system requires that a store carry hand held scanners, check out those scanners to consumers, and have a consumer walk around the store scanning items. The system has obvious limitations such as requiring stores to check out scanners which can lead to theft and breakage. Also, the store must separately maintain a kiosk with personnel to check out scanners to consumers.
Other computer assisted models, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,970,471, “Virtual catalog and product presentation method and apparatus” include having computers at a kiosk or near the product at a retail store which are Internet enabled and allow a consumer to browse online product catalogs, compare products and visualize various product images. However, this computer assisted virtual catalog is a stand-alone system and is not connected directly with the user's experience with the product, nor is it designed to scan products or product information in a product display setting where the user can interact in real time with a product or product display cards.
Tablet computers, miniaturized computers and smartphones are changing the way consumers interact with the world. However, retailers and product display makers have been unable to take advantage of next generation computing devices to enhance a retail store environment, a product display and take advantage of the full range of features available on tablet computers and smartphones to enhance a consumer's experience in a retail environment. Also, recent advances in virtual or augmented reality software are changing the way that physical objects, and images can be brought to life in an interactive manner, enriching the ability of the consumer to view objects in an augmented reality fashion. For example, Qualcomm's® Vuforia™ software platform enables augmented reality application experiences that allow image and objects to be transposed into virtual environments. For example, Vuforia™ and other similar software platforms allow static pictures or videos to be altered to include graphics, interactive video, or allow objects to become a part of a user's augmented reality. This can be achieved by configuring the software to allow a visual rendering of a static image or object to spring to life in a picture or live video by having the object captured in image and transposed in a real time video or a picture environment that includes the consumer's environment or the consumer himself. In other words, augmented reality or AR allows overlaying an object onto another object or target, in which case the overlay integrates into the target or can surround or become a part of the target's environment while the original screen remains visible while some aspects are altered. Vuforia and other applications like it open up a tremendous possibility for tablets and mobile devices to act as virtual displays for products while adding the additional feature of AR. For example, Vuforia and other applications allow consumers to take pictures of an image such as a watch or item of jewelry and then render the image on their hand or display, or take an item of furniture and render the image or video in the consumer's actual family room.
However, in retail display setting, the average consumer does not have the time, capability or interest to download software applications, install them on their tablets or smartphones, and configure them to render products on computerized displays or in an augmented reality fashion for video, display or otherwise. Also checking out scanners or walking around the store with a tablet or smartphone is impractical and does not offer a hands-free shopping experience. Shoppers may be pushing carts, carrying purses or bags, their cell phones or tablets and may not have the ability to carry yet another object when they arrive at the store. Moreover, a consumer visiting a retail store needs a seamless experience to view and handle a product without having to bring his own smartphone or tablet to a retail store and figure out how to interact with a product display. Also, in practice if a user does attempt to use a tablet or smartphone to interact with a product display, product or inanimate object, it will often produce a jittery and shaky experience as a result of the tablet or smartphone being an imprecise distance from the object, due to the user's motion, or as a result of not being configured properly to capture the object image or triggering symbol to render appropriate information to the consumer.
What is needed, therefore, is a computer assisted retail display platform that can easily and inexpensively be customized for a retail store to enhance a product display experience for a consumer and one that allows a consumer to use a display integrated computing device to interact with a product display in a manner that permits the consumer to experience a full range of products and product features.